Overhung clincher support



J. T. WRIGHT 2,194,628 OVERHUNG CLINCHER SUPPORT Filed Aug. 17. 1938 March 26, 1940.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. r/a'sspxl 7.7%9/6/0' ATTORNEY-'5' March 26, 1940.

v J. T. WRIGHT 2,194,628

v OVERHUNG CLINGHER SUPPORT I Fil ed'Aug. 17, 1938 '2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A'ITORNEY3 Patented Mar. 26, 1940 OVERHUNG CLINCHER SUPPORT Joseph '1. Wright, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor to Harris- Seybold-Potter Company, Cleveland,

Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Application August 17, 1938, Serial No. 225,326

Glaims.

This invention relates to improvements in overhung clincher supports, that is to say clincher supports for metal stitching machines which are overhung in order to leave free for the work to be 5 stitched the space between the lower part of the stitcher head and the frame or column of the machine. In certain types of work it is desirable to drive stitches through sheet metal closely adjacent to a flange on the metal, but it is impossible to handle some work of this character upon stitchers as heretofore constituted because the support for the clincher interferes with the work in the position which it would have to take in order to receive a stitch at the desired point. The present invention overcomes that difiiculty and makes it possible to perform work which ithas been impossible to handle on stitchers heretofore.

One of the objects of the invention therefore is the provision of an overhung clincher support which leaves free and unoccupied the space between the clincher support and the column of the machine, so that the material to be worked upon may extend into that space and if need be into the space beneath the clincher support also.

of a special arm to carry the clincher support,

the arm being connected to the column or rear part of the frame at its rear end and being offset horizontally in its forwardly extending portion in order to clear the stitcher head.

Another object is the provision of a mounting for the arm including a lateral adjustment thereof which will permit the arm to be readily removed without disturbing the adjustment, thereby greatly facilitating interchangeability with a conventional arm.

Still another object is the provision of an adjustment which will permit a given arm to be used on any one of a plurality of machines, and one which will avoid the close machining limits which would otherwise be necessary.

Other objects and features of novelty will appear as I proceed with the description of that embodiment of the invention which, for the purposes cf the present application, I have illustrated in the accompanying drawingain which Fig. 1 is a side view of the upper portion of a stitcher equipped withmy novel clincher support.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same partly broken away and partly in section.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation.

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view taken substantially on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2 but on a larger 95' scale.

be made the operator by moving a foot lever Another object of the invention is the provision Fig. 5 is a fragmental side view of a stitcher showing a type of work which may be performed thereon.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but showing a conventional arm substituted for the over- 5' hung arm.

In the drawings I0 is a casting forming the upper partcf the frame of a stitcher. At its lower end this casting may have a flange H secured by bolts or screws 12 to the upper endof a column it of the usual form. At the top of the frame there is mounted an electric motor M on the shaft'of which there is a small pinion, not shown, which meshes with external teeth on a fly-wheel, also not shown, which revolves loosely upon a shaft l5. Ahousing l6 encloses the fly-wheel and the pinion.

During the operation of the machine the flywheel runs continuously. When a stitch is to causes the fly-wheel to be clutched to shaft l5 and to revolve that shaft through a single revolution only, all of which is conventional practice in machines of this kind. The shaft I5 extends through the hollow casting [0 to the front of the 25 machine where it drives the mechanism contained within the stitcher head H for feeding wire, cutting it to length, forming the stitch, and driving the-stitch. This mechanism may be of i any suitable type and is not here shown in detail.

ll? pivoted at 20 to the former slide, whi'chshoe cooperates with the former to hold the formed stitch in position in the former during the descent of the driver. At that point in the cycle at which the driving of the stitch is completed the shoe l9 is swung backwardly and occupies con- 40 siderable space behind the line of stitch, so that it would be impossible to handle certain kinds of work on a conventional arm such as is shown in Fig. 6, that is work comprising a flange close to the line of stitch and. where the width of the work is too great to permit of the flange being arranged in front of the stitch line.

The novel arm which I employ in connection with my invention is illustrated at 2!. It comprises bifurcations 22 at its rear end which straddle an upright portion 23 of the hollow frame. From these bifurcations the arm extends upwardly and forwardly above the point at which the stitch is driven. Its forwardly extending portion is also curved laterally, as shownparticularly bushings have been threaded too tightly against in Fig. 2, and has a forward portion 24 extending around in front of stitcher head IT. The arm also includes preferably a separate member 25 fastened to the end of portion 24 by pins 26 and screws 2?. The member 25 extends vertically downward in front of the stitcher head to a point slightly below the point of stitch and then backward to the line of stitch. In its free extremity the member 25 carries a clincher plate 28 of conventional form.

The arm 2| is mounted upon a bolt 29 which extends through a pair of aligned smooth holes in the upright portion 23 of the casting, |j0. Each of the two bifurcations 22 has aligned threaded openings for the reception of externally threaded,

bushings 30, the bores of which are made to fit the, shank of bolt 29 and the inner ends of which are adapted to bear upon the upright portion 23 of the casting. Each bushing 39 has a hex head 3| or other means by which it may be turned. When the parts are in position one bushing may be advanced-by turning it clockwise, while the other is retracted by threading it anti-clockwise, so that by this means the arm may be adjusted laterally in either direction.

When a desired adjustment has been attained, that is when the clincher 28 is brought accurately beneath the line of stitch, a pairof lock nuts 32 may be drawn up against the bifurcations 22 to lock the threaded bushings in adjusted position.; When it is desired to remove the arm 2| or interchange it with an arm. of different character, the operator backs off and removes nut 33 from bolt 29 and pulls out the bolt, when the arm may be drawn forward and downward to clear the bifurcations of the arm from the frame. The lock nuts 32 hold the bushings 3|! in place so that when an adjustment of these bushings is once accomplished the removal and replacement of the arm does not disturb the adjustment. If the the upright 23, rendering the removal of the arm diflicult, one of the lock nuts 32 and the corresponding bushing may be loosened somewhat, the other lock nut and bushing being undisturbed, thereby permitting easy removal of the arm. Then, when the arm is again mounted on the upright the loosened bushing and nut may be again quickly tightened, and the arm will then be in .the'same adjustment as before.

The rear end of the arm is provided with an integral depending ear 34 having a threaded opening therein for the reception of a screw 35 which is adapted to bear on the front surface of .the upright portion 23 of the frame. By threading the screw 35 inward or outward the arm may be swung around the bolt 29 as a pivot to effect vertical adjustment of the clincher support. The

screw may be locked in any desired position by. ,means of a lock nut 36.

The conventional arm 31 illustrated in Fig. 6 is mounted and adjusted in identically the same way as the special arm 2|, and hence these two arms are interchangeable readily and quickly so as to enable the machine to accommodate to the best advantage as many different kinds of work as possible.

As an example of a type of work which may beihandledupon a stitcher equipped with my :.-novel arm 24 there is shown indotted lines in Fig." 1 a fragment of a sheet metal part 38used in automobiles. Noise deadening stripsof rubber and fabric or other like material must be attached to such metal work, frequently near an edge which is formed'with aflange. If the flange on the work illustrated in Fig. 1 were not so close to the desired line of stitching this job could be done on a conventional arm such as that illustrated in Fig. 6, but with the flange and the stitch line close together the shoe l9 would in such case interfere with the flange. The arm 2| however enables the operator to turn the Work around so that the flange comes in front of the stitch line in a clear and unoccupied space.

Fig. 5 illustrates another type of work for which the present invention is adapted. In this case thework has no flange near the stitch line, but

the wide return bend would strike the column of the machine if the work were turnedaround and an attempt were made to use aconventional arm.

In most cases the arms 2| and 31 will carry clinchers, but in some types of work the stitch is merely driven into the work Without being clinched and in such cases the arm merely supports the Work instead of supporting it and clinching the stitch.1 Acc0rdingly in the appended claims I shall refer to the arm as a work support.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a machine of the class described, a frame comprising an ,upright portion and a forwardly projecting neck portion, a stitcher head supported by said neck portion andadapted to drive a stitch downwardly, a work support below said stitcher head, and an arm carrying said support extending forwardly from the support, upwardly to a level above the stitchingpoint, and rearwardly from that level to the upright portion of the frame, thereby avoiding interference with material to be stitched extending downwardly between the stitching point and the frame.

2. In a machine of the class described, a frame comprising an vuprightportion and a forwardly projecting neck portion, a stitcher head supported by said neck portion and adapted to drive comprising anupright portion and a forwardly projecting neck portion, a stitcher head carried by said ,neck'portion and adapted to drive a stitch downwardly, a worksupport arranged below the stitcher head in the stitch. line, and an arm for carrying the support which extends, forwardly and upwardly from theupright portion of the frame and forwardly alongside said neck portion past the stitch line :at a level above the stitching point.

4. In a machine of the class described, a frame, a stitcherheada work support, an arm carrying said support, saidarm having a bifurcated rear end adapted to straddle an upright portion of the frame, a bolt extending through aligned threaded openings in the bifurcations of the arm and through an opening in the upright portion of the frame, and a pair of externally threaded bushings surrounding said bolt threadably mounted in the threaded openings of the said bifurcations, said bushings being adapted to bear at their inner ends against said frame around the .said opening therein, means enabling said bushings to be turned, whereby said arm may be adjusted transversely with respect to the machine frame and whereby the withdrawal of said bolt permits the removal of the arm without disturbing the adjustment of said threaded bushings.

5. In a machine of the class described, a frame, a stitcher head, a work support, an arm carrying said support, said arm. having a bifurcated rear end adapted to straddle an upright portion of the frame, a bolt extending through aligned threaded openings in the bifurcations of the arm and through an opening in the upright portion of the frame, and a pair of externally threaded bushings surrounding said bolt threadably mounted in the threaded openings of the said bifurcations, said bushings being adapted to bear at their inner ends against said frame around the said opening therein, means enabling said bushings to be turned, whereby said arm may be adjusted transversely with respect to the machine frame and whereby the withdrawal of said bolt permits the removal of the arm. without disturbing the adjustment of said threaded bushings, said arm having a depending portion in front of "ie upright portion of the frame and a threaded post in said depending portion adapted to bear against the face, of the frame for moving the arm around the axis of said bushings to adjust said work support vertically.

JOSEPH T. WRIGHT. 

